New system not working??

[avallett]

I know little to none on the subject of heating and cooling so I am turning to the pros.

I had a brand new system installed yesterday. The contractor came highly referred.

It has been almost twelve hours now since we first turned it on it isn't warming my house up. Of course, I check and give the air handler area a "once-over" as if I could detect any problems. There is a significant amount of frost on the vapor line. Is this normal?

Now the condensor is a good 50 - 60 feet away from the handler and the condensor was precharged for 25ft. the contractor said he was going to add more freon and return next week to top it off.

My inquiry is: should it take this long to warm up or is this normal?

Your comments are greatly appreciated?

[Hroper]

OOO no, If it was me,I wouldn't recommend him too highly.some have charge for 25 ,some 15 and some of them are off from the factory, why didn't he charge it while he was there? Hope ypur holding some of the money.

[avallett]

thanks hroper for your reply.

I too am doubting this lead.

The contractor said that he added freon to make up for the extra distance bewteen the outside and inside units but that the system would lose pressure over the first week... so "he would be happy to swing by a top me off next week".

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

System should never lose pressure.

Did you replace the entire system?

[airconman]

sounds like you have a leak... no big deal but he should have caught it
Call him back.... don't wait till next week... watch how he puts in refrigerant... if he doesn't have a chart in hand he's guessin

[avallett]

I did replace the entire system.

It sounds like that it is NOT normal for it to take this long for the warm air to be coming from the ducts.

[docholiday]

Regardless of the charge... Can someone please tell me how frost can get on the vapor line near the airhandler in heat mode?.

No sir, your unit is running in a/c mode and the electric heat is barely overpowering it. In a nutshell your meter is spinning like a buzzsaw and the compressor is in jeopardy because of a wiring goof. Flip it to emergency heat and call him back.

Let me guess... it's a rheem or ruud unit and he forgot to wire the B to the B on the thermostat or its a honeywell digital stat with a configurable o/b terminal that he didn't program properly.

[Edited by docholiday on 02-02-2005 at 09:09 AM]

[avallett]

It is a Rheem. Ill get him back out this morning to fix it. thanks for your help. greatly appreciated!!

[batesx01]

Docholiday. is correct sounds like there is problem with the wiring. Call him today it is running in the cooling mode.

[avallett]

I had the contractor come out yesterday and he said the wiring was all correct; however, there wasn't enough freon in the system.

He said that there was only 25 ft precharged in the condenser and that the air handler was 75 ft away. He would need to put more freon in and it would then work.

The problem was that it was too cold outside to put more freon in the system. He tried submerging the freon tank in hot water to "force" the freon into the system but could only get the gauge to read 50lbs (whatever that means).

He said he would try top come out today since it would be a little warmer an try to add more freon.

Am I getting hosed here?

[batesx01]

If the unit is a Heat pump then the peversing valve is in the wrong position and if it is a stait cooling unit the outdoor unit is not suppose to be running in the heat mode. Either way no reason to have forst accumulation on the Larger copper line comming out of the indoor unit (evap)

[docholiday]

Provided your desrciption of frost at the indoor unit is indeed true, it just cant be in the heat mode.

Tell you what, go outside to the outdoor unit and touch the big line that leads into your house. Be careful, it may be hot (150-180 degrees). If it is cool, then he doesnt need to add refrigerant unless there is none in the system at all.

If you have a thermometer, read the outdoor temperature and also read the temperature of the air coming out of the outdoor fan. post those numbers here.

If he has 75 feet of lineset and didnt add refrigerant when he installed it, he is right, he may need to add some but that has no effect on making frost inside. Now if the small pipe is cold enough to frost and the big pipe is warm, he has a restriction in the coil or indoor piston on top of whtever else.

[Edited by docholiday on 02-04-2005 at 10:10 AM]

[beenthere]

I agree with doc, frost on the vapor line in heat mode, hard to have that happen, unless its in defrost, and maybe the rv is sticking and not letting it come out of defrost.